First 2013 Viper delivered to customer at renovated Detroit plant

January 12, 2013

Chrysler Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne, far right, and the Viper team presented the first production 2013 SRT Viper to owner Scott Thomas and his family, immediate left of Marchionne, during a ceremony Thursday at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant. / Jerry S. Mendoza/Chrysler

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Scott Thomas, owner of the first production 2013 SRT Viper, sits in the driver's seat. / Jerry S. Mendoza/Chrysler

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Chrysler delivered its first 2013 SRT Viper to a customer at its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit on Thursday.

"Viper is Chrysler," Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said during a ceremony at the plant in a video posted on Chrysler's media site. "If there is a car that defines what we are as a carmaker out there to people who are into carmaking, this is the car."

Marchionne and SRT Brand President and CEO Ralph Gilles, and employees of the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant presented the car to Scott Thomas, 40, of Oklahoma City, Okla.

Introduced as the Dodge Viper in 1992, it was sold through 2010, when the automaker's financial crisis caused Chrysler to put the brakes on production.

The new Viper returns with an all-aluminum, mid-front 8.4-liter V10 engine that delivers 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque.

Production of the Viper began Dec. 5, 2012, and shipments are expected to begin in February. The base price for the Viper is $99,390.

The Viper is assembled in Detroit near 8 Mile Road at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant by about 150 employees. That plant was idled in 2010.

Chrysler's renovations of the nearly 400,000-square-foot plant and the unique process of building the Viper will be featured in a story in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday.

The renovations include the lobby, where a historical Viper timeline now hangs, and the shop floor, which the automaker says is now as clean as a hospital, is brighter and more organized to improve the efficiency of each operation.

Now, Chrysler is able to build 12 Vipers per day, up from four under the old system.

Despite the improvements to the assembly process, the Viper is still largely handcrafted and stays true to the assembly process established in 1992.

There also are new signs throughout the plant to reflect the racing heritage of the Viper. Aisles are named for famous racing venues like Sebring and Nürburgring, and are color-coded to match the columns. The walkways have checkered flag decals indicating pedestrian zones.